3 Nashik youth become 'app'le of women’s eyes

With the number of attacks on women increasing and their safety becoming a prime concern, three youth in Nashik have developed a software which can help women sound an alarm and seek timely help.

With the number of attacks on women increasing and their safety becoming a prime concern, three youth in Nashik have developed a software which can help women sound an alarm and seek timely help.

The application has spy recording, which can be used as evidence, and location log that sends a location alert every 10 minutes. Enraged by the Delhi gang rape, Gunwant Battase, 23, android software developer, Anoop Unnikrishnan, 24, engineer, and Jayesh Bankar, 23, graphic engineer, developed the software ‘Me against rape’ in two weeks. “We saw a candlelight march in support of the Delhi rape victim and felt that something more concrete was needed,” said Battase.

The basic version was ready in a week but it was with only one functionality. It could call the helpline and send a message to the person concerned. They worked on it further and developed two unique features. The ‘spy’ feature records at one touch. “This is important even in cases of eve-teasing as it offers direct evidence against the miscreants,” said Unnikrishnan. The other feature, location log, records and sends location details every 10 minutes — latitude, longitude, address and google map link.

The application’s designer, Bankar, was perpetually worried about his sister who worked late hours in a hospital. “It was my sister’s safety that motivated me to work on this application. Now, I know where she is and if she needs me,” he said. The application was demonstrated to the Nashik police commissioner, Kulwant Kumar Sarangal, who appreciated the effort and called it an “excellent application”.

“We want the people to give us feedback so that we can improve it,” Unnikrishnan said.